This paper presents the results of the empirical research into the democratic accountability of new modes of governance in the UK media sector. In the focus is co-regulation, a form of regulation implying a combination of state involvement and non-state actors and described as ‘regulated self-regulation’ (Schulz and Held, 2004) or self-regulation with government oversight.
This research is concerned with democratic accountability, a social mechanism that enables citizens, the primary principals in a democracy, to call those in the power to account, either directly or indirectly through representatives (Bovens, Schillemans and ‘t Hart, 2008; Mulgan, 2003). The definition of accountability operationalized for this research is a variation of Bovens’ that recognizes the forum and the principal in the accountability arrangements do not have to be identical. Accountability is seen as a mechanism in which an actor has an obligation to explain and justify his conduct with respect to the principal, the forum can pose questions and pass judgement, and the actor may face consequences (Bovens, 2010; Philp, 2009).
In order to evaluate the potential of accountability mechanisms for democratic control, this research analyses both more traditional or vertical accountability mechanisms, such as political and legal accountability, but also horizontal and discursive accountability mechanisms such as citizen representation in co-regulatory bodies, consultations, consumer sovereignty, administrative and social accountability (Bovens, 2007; Schillemans, 2008, 2011). Research based on policy documents analysis and semi-structured interviews has shown that although decision-making power has shifted from elected representatives when it comes to co-regulation in the UK, the development of accountability mechanisms has not followed this change. With the traditional accountability mechanisms insufficiently modified and the new mechanisms not providing citizens with means for controlling those in the power, co-regulatory bodies are left insufficiently accountable to the citizens.
